


a lady's wildling husband

by Space_Samurai



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Meet the Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24102334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Samurai/pseuds/Space_Samurai
Summary: Harrion Karstark arrives to Castle Black on a cold, sunless morning. He finds his little sister pregnant and married to a wildling.
Relationships: Alys Karstark/Sigorn of Thenn
Comments: 8
Kudos: 77





	a lady's wildling husband

Harrion Karstark arrives to Castle Black on a cold, sunless morning.

He has been riding for a week, on a horse that seems to be a breath away from dying, which is more than most of the men marching alongside him have. Walking north as winter harshens is not pleasant. Harrion cannot find it in himself to care about his freezing toes, after years of captivity, he’s happy enough to return.

Happy as one can be, when part of his kin is dead and another is under arrest for plotting against him. No to mention that his dear sister was at Castle Black under the protection of the Night’s Watch and Stannis’s men, rather than at Karhold where she should’ve been safe to begin with. The fury had been enough to keep him warm for days after he had been told of Aly’s fate once they rescued him from Maidenpool.

His cousins and uncle would pay dearly, he’d see to it. But first, he went to the Wall to find his sister.

The sight of her is a soothing balm he hadn’t expected. The last time he had seen her, Alys had been a young girl, three-and-ten and not yet flowered. His brothers and father had been alive then, and had kissed her cheek before riding together to fight for Robb Stark’s cause. He recalled leaning on her ear and promising to look after that besotted boy she was betrothed to, only for him to die in battle not long after.

Alys rushes to him, draped in white furs that contrasted with the black cloaks of the men from the watch. Her face looks rounder than it used to be, the bony features she had once sported have filled. Hair longer and eyes bigger, she’s no longer a child but a maid, one forced to flee her home.

He feels tears burning behind his eyes. His father might have once looked down on him for showing such emotions. She says his name as she breaks to the crowd of arriving men and Harrion hugs her tightly as she collapses against him. It is then that he feels her protruding belly against his flat one and it dawns on him: his sister is thick with child.

“Thank the Gods, I feared I might never see you again. Harry,” his sister caresses his bearded face. “When word reached that Stannis was marching back to Castle Black without any mention of you I thought the worse.” She watched him with concern. “Are… Are you alright?”

Harrion feels his hands beginning to shake. How dare them, his sister had gone to the Wall for protection and some bastard had dared to…

“Harry?” Alys asked gently.

If not at the Wall where? The thought that something might have happened to her in Karhold was too painful to bear, the feeling enough to choke him.

“What happened at Karhold?” He takes her hands into his, both gloved, hers in wool and his in leather. He cannot bare to look down at her middle, where the sin of a lower man is growing. “Who was it?”

Her delicate features twist in confusion. “Arnolf planned to marry me to Cregan, so they could claim Karhold. I rode as soon as I learnt from their plans. I’ve been here for so long… And now we are together.” The smile she gives him is soft and full of hope, it makes Harrion’s insides twist. “Lord Snow found me an army to reclaim it, should I need to.” He cannot help but think he’s missing a piece of information. Or maybe his sister is ignoring her current state. Perhaps that’s why she is at Castle Black still, in hopes to leave the babe with the Watch once it’s born and forget it. Harrion couldn’t blame her. “I thought someone would fill you in. Let’s go inside, there’s a lot you must be hungry.”

He finds himself being dragged to the hall, where plenty are already eating. He sees all types of odd fabrics and furs, unusual jewelry and unfamiliar weapons and armors. So it was true that the Watch now feasted with wildlings. Harrion wished he had a sword of his own, it’d help to make him feel more at ease. He was tired of being unarmed.

His sister sits, boldly or perhaps recklessly, in a table already being used by men who are undoubtedly wildlings. Much to his surprise, they move their bronze axes so they can sit comfortably and they greet his sister in a tongue he doesn’t share. Alys greets them back gracefully.

“This is my brother, Harrion.” She introduces him. “These are Rogodr and Toryger.” The men nod at him as she names them. “They are part of the Thenn. Don’t hold it against them for not speaking, their common tongue isn’t very good.”

“I won’t.” He replies, distracted. Just for how long has she been at Castle Black? Apparently long enough to become familiar with wildlings. That was dangerous in itself. Alys was of the North, but she was still a woman, friendly and kind by nature. He could only hope that the one who had put a child in her hadn’t been a man she trusted.

He misses the way they stare at her, with reverence, as some men would look at the statues of their gods.

Rogodr hands her a steaming cup of gods know what and Alys takes it without hesitation, then she hands it to him. “It will warm you up,” she promises. She turns at the men. “No bread?”

“No bread. Sigorn hunting.” Alys sighed and left the table, then she returned with bread and handed it to Harrion.

“Eat.” She command him and he obeys.

Alys tells him about the monsters that are coming from beyond the Wall as he chews, the army that Jon Snow has been amassing and how the wildlings are now living amongst them in relative peace.

“It can’t have been easy. What was Snow thinking, keeping you with the savages?” That earns him a sly smile.

“I’ve been well looked after. My tent is amidst the Thenn, no black brother or freeman would dare to lay a hand on me.” He frowned

“You are not staying at the castle?” He needed to have a talk with Snow or Stannis. Why was his sister freezing on the ground? Had no one ever taught the bastard how to treat highborn maids? Was a northerner maid not good enough company for the queen?

She tried to reassure him. “It grows on you. Besides, I bet the tents the Thenn have are better than any you could find this side of the Wall.”

It didn’t ease him. “It’s still a tent.” One close to where the rest of the savages lived. Even if he couldn’t ride tomorrow to Karhold, he’d make sure his sister had a bed tonight. “And it can’t be comfortable in your… condition.”

Her cheeks reddened. “Oh.” She said. “You noticed.”

Harrion shifted in his seat. “It was hard not to.”

He’d like an explanation, a name so he could find the man and make him swallow his own cock. He wouldn’t force it out of her, but he wouldn’t rest until he learned the man was far from her.

“Was it here?”

“Here?” Suddenly, the doors of the hall were smashed against the walls. Everyone turned, even Harrion. “Sigorn!” The man who walked inside was a wildling, tall and with broad shoulders. In his back he carried what appeared to be a boar. He followed his sister’s voice and his eyes… _changed_ , for a lack of a better word, when he saw her.

Everyone returned to their business and Sigorn, with little grace, dropped the dead beast on the table and then sat by Aly’s side.

“I believe we should bring this to the kitchen,” Alys commented lightly.

“Alys wanted meat,” the wildling said and, much to Harrion’s horror, he wrapped an arm around her his palm pressed against her belly. His sister seemed embarrassed by the gesture, but she didn’t pull away. “Child grow strong.” It felt like a question.

“Aye, he keeps me up with his kicks.” She said softly, her eyes then went back to Harrion, warily. She opened her mouth, but he spoke before she could.

“What in the seven hells is this?” Harrion barked, hand going to his hip for a sword that wasn’t there. The wildling did have one and he didn’t seem to appreciate Harrion’s tone. Before he could react, there was a blade pointed at him, which would’ve killed him if it weren’t for Alys’s quick reflexes.

“Don’t! He is my brother.” Her hand put down the blade and she glared at Harrion. “ _He_ is my husband.”

“Husband?” He felt slightly nauseous. “You married a savage?”

“I needed an army to defend my rights over Karhold.” She said firmly. “So I married the Magnar of Thenn, who has an army of two hundred men.”

“A raider,” he said bitterly.

Her stance did not falter. “They are the first Thenn to ever see the Wall. They kept to their mountains and valleys until the Others came.” With her eyes, she dared him to continue. “When the enemy comes, the North cannot afford to be divided. Whether is the Bolton, the Lannisters or the Others.” Harrion’s gaze shifted from her to her wildling husband, who met him without flinching. He couldn’t be older than Harrion, but he was definitely older than Alys. “Would you rather have me married to Cregan?” She bit out at last.

“No,” he was quick to answer. “Of course not.”

She sighed, as if she were suddenly very tired. “How did no one tell you about this? We have been married for half a year.”

“I guess no one wanted to deliver the news.” He kept staring at the wildling, with his long hair and bronze jewelry. Their father was surely rolling over his grave, wherever it may be. “I hope the Thenn are good warriors.”

“Great warriors.” Sigorn assured, arm still around Alys and eyes narrowed. Harrion glared, but he didn’t say anything else and when the boar was roasted and served, he ate it silently, ignoring how the savage gave his sister the biggest portion.

-

Alys had known her brother wouldn’t be happy with her choice of a husband. Harrion would’ve been happier to see her married to any other highborn lord of the North, rather than her wildling warrior. Yet not a single highborn lord would’ve fought for her rights to Karhold, not while Harrion lived and her uncle acted as her guardian. The wildling spears would serve where the northerner swords had failed her.

Sigorn of Thenn could barely speak the common tongue, which made communication between them hard, but they understood each other well enough, Alys thought. He was not cold nor distant, and he made an effort to see all her needs satisfied. Perhaps not a maiden’s dream, but a woman’s man.

Nights with him were never cold and he did not stray from their bed as far as she knew. A part of her, despite her courage, had feared the married life. She had seen how some of her cousins treated their wives, how the fire from their eyes would die as the time passed and they became shells of the person they used to be. Thank the gods, her husband never raised a hand to her, not even his voice. In fact, he was a quiet man who spoke very little.

Some things didn’t need to be voiced. Alys knew what he wanted when he’d wake her up in the early mornings, face buried in her hair and hands tugging her furs insistently. At first she had thought it was because, like any other man, he wanted a son as soon as possible. But his attentions hadn’t stopped when she told him she was with child, in fact the knowledge only seemed to encourage him. Alys wasn’t complaining.

He’d never be the type of lord her brother approved of, but Alys needed him accept him. Especially if their child was to be the heir to Karhold until Harrion married.

“Is he kind to you?” Harrion’s voice is barely above a whisper. They are alone, outside the hall and away from her husband and his men.

“He is. Even if he doesn’t look the part.”

“I’m sorry you couldn’t marry Daryn Hornwood.” He offered.

“I’m not.” Alys said truthfully. “I’m just sad he had to die.” Along with Edd, Torr and their father. “I just want the war to end.”

“That makes two of us.” He cleared his throat. “I’m regret you had to marry a wildling for Karhold.”

Alys groaned. “Oh, stop it! You make it sound like torture.” A smile formed in her face. “I am quite happy.” It wasn’t a lie. While she could barely understand him, she was fond of her husband and he seemed equally fond of her. “Sleeping in a tent it’s not so bad, either. And it’s only until we take back Karhold.”

“Still,” her brother frowned. “Your back must be hurting horribly and the cold is likely not helping.”

Her smile turned wicked. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I have someone to keep me warm, comfortable and safe.”

His face twisted in disgust and Alys laughed. “How do you think I got with child in the first place? Don’t tell me you’ve grown shy!”

“That’s enough!”

It wasn’t, she kept laughing until her sides hurt and she felt the need to make waters.

“You’ll grow to like him.” She told him. “He grew on me rather fast.” Though Sigorn would have to try other methods to ingratiate himself with her brother.

“I doubt it.” Harrion huffed. “What could we possibly have in common?”

“Everything. You are both men, lords, warriors; you could not be more alike.” Harrion threw her a look. “Though he is treated as a god by his people, did you know that?”

“I didn’t.” He sighed. “He doesn’t eat children or anything, right?”

“Harrion!”

**Author's Note:**

> Man, this pairing doesn't have enough fics about them. 
> 
> Also let's ignore why Stannis saved Harrion Karstark or why he'd return to Castle Black.


End file.
